Belägerung der Vestung Poroto Longone in der Insul Elba, 1650.

Title

Belägerung der Vestung Poroto Longone in der Insul Elba, 1650.

Description

Bird's-eye view of the fortress of San Giacomo di Poroto Longone near Porto Azzurro on Elba, which was besieged in 1650. Also a partial map of Elba and an index below.

ca. 1655

Artist

Merian (1593-1650)

Matthäus Merian (1593 – 1650) , born in Basel, learned the art of copperplate engraving in Zurich and subsequently worked and studied in Strasbourg, Nancy, and Paris, before returning to Basel in 1615. The following year he moved to Frankfurt, Germany where he worked for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry. He married his daughter, Maria Magdalena 1617. In 1620 they moved back to Basel, only to return three years later to Frankfurt, where Merian took over the publishing house of his father-in-law after de Bry's death in 1623. In 1626 he became a citizen of Frankfurt and could henceforth work as an independent publisher. He is the father of Maria Sibylla Merian, who later published her the famous and wellknown studies of flowers, insects and butterflies.

Historical Description

The oldest people known by name who lived on the island of Elba were the Ilvates, a tribe of Ligurian origin. From about 750 BC, Elba was under the increasing influence of the Etruscans, who were interested in the extensive iron ore deposits. In 246 BC, the Romans conquered the island, which belonged to the Roman Empire or its successor empires for about 800 years. The Romans named the island Ilva. At the end of the 6th century the Longobards arrived on Elba. Their presence is evidenced by place names of Longobard origin. In 1015, the Pope commissioned the emerging naval power of Pisa to protect Elba from Saracen attacks. In the 13th century Elba was repeatedly attacked by Genoa, Pisa's greatest rival. In 1399 the then ruler of Pisa Gherardo Appiano sold the Pisan state to the Duke of Milan Gian Galeazzo Visconti, but in the process retained Piombino, the island of Elba and other, smaller territories for himself. In 1593 Piombino was elevated to a principality. The island of Elba was temporarily occupied by Great Britain in connection with the Revolutionary Wars and was granted to France in 1802. In the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1814, the island was transferred as a sovereign principality to Napoleon, who abdicated as Emperor of the French on the same day. Napoleon landed on Elba on May 4, 1814, and undertook extensive reforms here as ruler over a population of about 10,000. As early as February 1815, however, he fled again from his exile on the island of Elba and returned to France. At the Congress of Vienna, Elba was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and, together with it, became part of the united Kingdom of Italy in 1860.